We have
Flour-een
Chlor-een
Bro-meen
and then we have:
Io-dine
shouldn’t it be
Io-deen?
FWIW, I’ve heard “bromine” pronounced both ways. I suspect all of them have seen variation.
It* is* “Iodeen” where I come from.
Monkey? Donkey?
English is full of such examples.
It is.
(In British English at least)
I say “io-dine” like most Americans, but the Thais all follow the British style and say “io-deen.” There is no Thai word for it; “io-deen” is used by all.
“The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.”
– James Nicoll
I think expecting regularity of pronunciation in English is a bit much to ask.
Both pronunciations are listed in M-W, and I’ve heard both in my life. What struck me as odd, though, was that it also listed “I-O-d’n”, which I’ve never heard.
What exactly is this pair of words an example of?
Similar spellings with different pronunciations.
Sounds like a rationing-era food extender.
…unless “monkey” and “donkey” rhyme where acsenray comes from.
Or anywhere else, for that matter.
The poster is referring to the beginning of those words, same spelling but different pronunciations, rather than the ending. My first reaction was the same as yours since the OP was referring to the endings of the words and that’s where I looked first and scratched my head for a second. Then did the basic :smack:
:smack:
Didn’t “donkey” used to be pronounced “dunkey”? Or was that just a lie that QI told me?
When Thais try to speak English, those two words do usually rhyme.
I hate pronunciation guides, and find them less than intuitive or illuminating. Is there any difference between i-o-dine and io-dine? I mean “io”? How the hell do you pronounce that?
Wait, are people saying “bro-meen” and “bro-mine” saying the same word? :smack:
Not only word with the same endings, but the names of elements in the same column of the periodic table. Seems like there should be some consistency.
Also: It’s Fronkensteen